Our goals and convictions that drive us to see change in Tucson

WAKE UP TUCSON: Resolutions

By Joe Higgins and Chris DeSimone, special for Inside Tucson Business
Published on Saturday, January 02, 2010

It’s resolution time and we are throwing ours into the ring. Save this article and check back on us when 2011 comes.

A new decade is kicking off with a down economy, our local governments are scrambling to hold on and if you are a business owner like us, you are waiting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

During difficult times, setting goals and resolutions are more important than ever. When it comes to 2010 resolutions, we are committed to seeing them through.

Each morning the clock buzzer goes off at the crack of too early and coffee starts brewing. We cruise down the road to start our morning radio show at 6 a.m. Day in and day out for two hours we bring it, we serve it up; we do our best to wake this place up.

If you haven’t tuned in yet, what you’ll hear is a cross section of business owners and leaders, authors, politicians and educators sprinkled with local sports, and the best places to eat in town, (in our humble opinion.) Our job is to paint a picture for the listeners of how we think this community really runs. Our job is to Wake Up Tucson and get our community to start paying attention to the basics before it’s too late.

The radio program is just the beginning of our efforts to help change the poor business climate of the greater Tucson area. We are supply-side guys. We believe if business is allowed to thrive, the entire community benefits. All our board service, hundreds of one-on-one meetings, dozens of business events, blogs, and even this column take time away from our business and personal lives. So why the heck do we do what we do?

Below are our 2010 New Year’s resolutions and few of our motivations. Maybe just maybe, they’ll motivate you too.

• With young kids in elementary school, we hope to create opportunities for our children to stay in Tucson after graduating from the U of A. Losing more than 4,000 college graduates each year because of a lack of suitable jobs is unacceptable. The U of A is a brain factory and their end products are fleeing town and not looking back.

• We see an ever-growing pool of people seeking charitable assistance. We realize that what these struggling families need most is a good job that pays all the bills. Creating jobs and industries is not Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities’ job, it’s not the politician’s job, it’s everyone’s job. Ask yourself how much you have personally benefited from this community.

• We realize that the Tucson City Council, Board of Supervisors and legislators constantly make decisions that benefit special interest groups’ voter blocks. We will work tirelessly to end turf wars and bring the fractured business community together to finally have a seat at the table. Unless and until we get our act together, the business sector will continue to be marginalized, minimized and exploited. Check out www.ChangeTucsonChamber.com for details.

• We will be the voice for the merchants downtown. These brave souls have had their patience and loyalty repaid with insider deals, overpaid bureaucrats, too much government interference and very little progress.

• We promise to tell the community, elected officials and anyone who will listen that every day in Tucson should be “Appreciate Small Business Day.” A weak proclamation right before a city election isn’t going to cut it anymore.

• Our goal is to expose and educate the community about funding and accountability measures at the MTCVB, TREO, Downtown Partnership, Fox Theater/Tucson Convention Center and anyone else that takes our tax dollars in an effort to make our community better. If these groups are doing their job we’ll tell you, and if not, let’s just say we aren’t lacking for material.

These are some of the reasons why we do what we do and these are our resolutions for 2010.  Now ask yourself, “Why do YOU do what YOU do?”

Let 2010 be the year that you got off the sidelines and into the game, before the game is over and we’ve all lost. Learn more at ChangeTucsonChamber.com, TakeBackTucson.com, ArizonaPolicyInstitute.com and our daily blog at TucsonChoices.com.

Log on, tune in, educate yourself on the issues and get off the couch!
Contact Joe Higgins at joe@joehigginsinc.com or Chris DeSimone at provenpartner@comcast.net. They’re the hosts of “Wake Up Tucson,” which airs 6-8 a.m, weekdays on The Voice KVOI 1030-AM.

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